


Defiance

by orphan_account



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Dark, Dirty Talk, F/F, Femslash, Hate Sex, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:49:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24279892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rhea calls Edelgard into her office, revealing that she knows all about her plans.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/Rhea
Comments: 9
Kudos: 87





	Defiance

**Author's Note:**

> this work contains physical violence, and is generally dark. rhea gets angry, and we all know how it goes when that happens. please keep that in mind if you decide to read.

The turn of the moon is filled with tension for virtually everyone at the monastery. Knights, students and faculty alike are on their guard. It’s as if the entirety of Garreg Mach is walking along a thin rope, keeping up normalcy, but only just. Seteth and Archbishop Rhea seem particularly abnormal in their interactions, too, and everyone who knows them even the slightest bit can tell as much.

In the afternoon, as Edelgard is in the Black Eagles classroom studying over notes, she hears the voice of Shamir call out for her.

“Edelgard. Rhea wants to see you in her office.”

She blinks. _What. Why?_

“Right now?”

“Yes. It’s urgent, she says.”

Shamir turns to leave, and Edelgard steels herself as she gathers her things. She must keep her mask on.

* * *

“Come in, Edelgard,” says Rhea’s voice from behind the door.

“Excuse me, Lady Rhea,” Edelgard says. She turns the knob, opens the door at an noticeably slow pace, and steps inside.

“Close the door, please,” Rhea says.

Edelgard narrows her eyes a bit, but otherwise keeps her composure. “Is that necessary, Lady Rhea?”

“Yes. It is.”

Rhea is dead serious. If her tone doesn’t give as much away, then her piercing gaze does. Edelgard obeys. If she were less practiced at disguising her emotions, she might have been shaking. Thankfully, however, her life had taught her well. She straightened her spine and took a step in the Archbishop’s direction.

“I must say I find it rather unusual that you’d call a student into your office like this, Lady Rhea.”

“Yes,” Rhea says. She stands up and walks halfway around her desk. “Quite unusual indeed. Please, Edelgard. Have a seat.” She gestures to the chair positioned on the opposite side of the desk.

Edelgard swallows. “Forgive me, Lady Rhea, but I have a busy evening ahead of me. If possible, I would like to keep this meeting brief.”

Rhea hums in a dangerously sarcastic manner. “Oh, I see. I will keep it as brief as possible, then. _Sit.”_ She pushes the chair in Edelgard’s direction with her foot.

Edelgard shoots Rhea a look that could speak more than a thousand words. A look that shows that she is frustrated, but not at all to be trifled with. She’s used to that look intimidating most that see it, yet it doesn’t seem to make Rhea so much as blink.

“Edelgard. Is there anything you wish to tell me about?”

Silence.

“Anything in regards to your plans for the near future? Doubts or concerns, perhaps?”

Edelgard keeps her mask as steel-clad as ever. “Not that I can think of, Lady Rhea. The year will be coming to a close soon, but I am confident about my progress, as well as that of my classmates. I look forward to our graduation during the Great Tree Moon.”

To Edelgard’s shock, Rhea’s expression seems to relax. She gives a small smile. “I see. I’m glad to hear as much.”

Rhea takes another step forward in her direction. “I’m quite impressed, Edelgard. I must admit that I underestimated you, a bit. It seems that you have gotten even more skilled at lying.”

Edelgard feels her throat go dry, her heart race, and her blood course through her veins like lightning. She musters her resolve so as to keep her countenance neutral. “I beg your pardon?”

“I mean it. It’s rather remarkable. But, you may relax now.” Rhea’s voice has softened, as has her expression; and yet somehow, it makes her seem far, far more threatening. “You needn’t lie anymore. As long as you are here, you are free to be your true self. Your foolish, selfish, conniving self.”

It’s then that Edelgard can no longer pretend that she is at all comfortable with the situation, nor can she feign respect for Rhea for another second. She abruptly stands from the chair and tightens her fists at her side.

“What do you want from me?”

Rhea is still smiling. Smiling like she’s talking to the students that come looking for her after she gives a sermon at the cathedral. It’s unfitting, and it’s dangerous.

“I would sit back down if I were you, Edelgard.”

Edelgard doesn’t budge an inch. She challenges Rhea’s gaze with her own, not breaking eye contact.

“My dear girl… Do you really think I don’t know what it is you are doing?”

“…”

“Are you truly so arrogant, that you believe me completely ignorant of your little machinations?” She laughs. “Why, it’s a bit surprising, really. I would expect you to have learned, by now, that arrogance is one of the most dangerous qualities a leader can have.”

Edelgard is still unable to speak. She stands before Rhea in silence, even though her mouth has gotten dry and her head feels slightly like it’s burning.

“On the other hand, however, I am impressed. Not many people could have accomplished what you have over the past year or two. Making arrangements to take the reins of the Adrestian Empire, amassing an army, securing allies, colluding with the most despicable of people--” her voice sinks into a tone of utter disgust as she says that word -- “all while still attending the Academy - being a model student and House Leader! Truly, child, I ought to applaud you.”

Edelgard feels as though the world has frozen around her. She knows. Rhea knows. She’d taken every caution possible, planned every move down to the smallest details, and yet still Rhea knew. How. How is this possible, she thought. She knows about Rhea’s true nature, of course. An immortal being, over a thousand years old. A dragon. A monster. But is Rhea truly so powerful? Does she really have eyes and ears _everywhere?_

It perplexes Edelgard that even after making that revelation, Rhea is still standing behind her desk, perfectly calm, as if this were an audience like any other. It makes her not know what to do - a sensation that she _hates._

“Edelgard. My dear. How can you be so selfish? Do you know what your ancestors would think of you, if they saw you now? Planning to destroy the very things they fought and died to protect?”

“Fuck you.”

Edelgard speaks abruptly, without thinking. She’d never used profanity to speak to anyone in her life before.

“Fought and died to protect? The Hresvelgs have always valued the things that truly matter. Justice. Freedom. This world of yours is neither free nor just, far from it. And I will fight to take it back.”

Rhea laughs again. She seems so amused, so entertained, and yet the anger she’s feeling is starting to bleed through the theatrics. “Take it back! Why, from whom, exactly? Do you think Fódlan belongs to the Adrestian Empire? To _you?”_

“No, not me. But us. Humanity. It certainly doesn’t belong to you or your, your _species.”_

!

Edelgard swears her vision went blind for a moment. Her cheek burns from where Rhea had slapped it, with enough force to make Edelgard take two steps back.

“You will not speak to me that way. You will not speak ill of my kin, not now or ever. How dare you. You do not know what you’re going on about. What do you know of the Hresvelgs that came before you? What you’ve read? What you’ve heard? I knew them. Walked and fought with every one of them. Gave my power to their cause, always. And you dare presume to know more than I do.”

Edelgard can’t speak. She touches her stinging cheek, staring blankly ahead of her.

“Have you forgotten who you are? Forgotten that the blood of Seiros flows through your veins? _My_ blood?”

“I never asked for that, nor did anyone alive at this moment that has a Crest. You’ve poisoned this world by allowing Crests to exist!”

Rhea strikes her again, to the same cheek as before. Edelgard needs to make a conscious effort to not lose her footing. Rhea didn’t hold back, either. It hurt.

“I allowed Crests to exist, did I? Tell me, you little snake. If you’re so wise about your history, then tell me. Who was it that first gained the power of Crests? Who was it that slayed my mother and my brethren, took their blood and their bones! _Stole_ them!”

Edelgard turns on her heel, and bolts for the door. Rhea chases after her with inhuman speed, and captures her wrist with a crushing grip. She pulls Edelgard close to her and looks straight into her eyes with a gaze so intense it almost burns.

“Call off your plans. There is still time. If you do, I will be willing to negotiate with you. If you do not, then I will decimate you _and_ your army. I will make you feel pain you cannot even imagine.”

“Trust me, Rhea, I am no stranger to threats of pain. And you’re the one who is arrogant if you’re so sure that you can do that. My army is bigger than you know - my power is greater than you know.”

“Your power? That of the Crest of Flames, do you mean?”

Edelgard’s eyes go wide as she struggles in Rhea’s grip.

“To think you would even believe that you could hide such a thing from me. I knew the minute I looked at you, child. Now, I will repeat myself. Call. Off. Your plans.”

Edelgard stands firm. “No. I will fight. I _will_ take down the Church, and you. I will give this world back to humanity, and I will not rest until I do.”

Rhea’s expression darkens, turning to something Edelgard has never seen on her before. To see the usually kind, serene Archbishop like this, looking as though she’s ready to commit a murder. Rhea shoves Edelgard hard to the door, her body loudly thumping against it.

“Get out. Take tonight to think about what you’re doing, and let me know what you decide. Remember my words, Miss von Hresvelg. And, for your own good, never underestimate me again.”

She opens the door and pushes Edelgard out of it. And then it’s over.

Edelgard inhales sharply, leaning against the wall for support. Thankfully, no one is around her. She doesn’t want to imagine what others would think if they saw her outside the Archbishop’s office, visibly agitated, breathing heavily and with a very red cheek. She brings a hand up to cover it, and power-walks back to her dormitory.

If Edelgard were a less emotionally strong person, she might have cried. A part of her did want to cry. She did underestimate Rhea, severely so. And if Rhea knew about what’s to come, then she clearly had planned for it, too. She was likely mobilizing her own army. The plan to conquer Garreg Mach relied heavily on its element of surprise, but now…

Edelgard let her body fall back against her bed, and stared at the ceiling, processing. She would need to convene with Hubert, and with her uncle.

She cannot not get the image of Rhea looking at her like she had, out of her mind. The tone of her voice when she’d spoken to her - how she’d shouted.

And she _hit_ her. Twice. Edelgard raises her arm and takes off her white glove, brings up the sleeve of her uniform. Sure enough, her wrist is bruised where Rhea had gripped it.

There had been such tension in that moment - but not the sort of tension she would have expected from an encounter of that sort. She didn’t know if Rhea felt it too, but Edelgard sensed an undeniable electricity then, not like anything she had ever felt before.

“Goddess. I must be going insane.”

Edelgard pops open the button on her shorts, and puts a hand inside.

She had, indeed, gotten wet.

In a swift movement, she withdraws her hand from her shorts, hastily wipes her fingers on the sheet, and turns to lay on her side. She can’t entertain these thoughts.

She had always thought Rhea was physically attractive. She’s only human, after all, even if a very unusual one. But nothing could have prepared her for getting aroused following an angry, borderline violent confrontation with the woman who was her greatest enemy. The woman she’d been plotting to kill for years.

There’s a lot of planning she needs to do, she knows, but she can’t think properly. She closes her eyes and lets sleep take her. She’s not prone to napping, but in that moment, she thinks, there’s little else she’ll be able to do.

* * *

It’s quite late when Edelgard resolves to go back to Rhea’s office - a good amount of the students are in bed. She had thought of not going. She knows Hubert would think her crazy if he knew. But she wants to go - if for no other reason, then to attempt to deceive Rhea into thinking that she would call out her war.

With a deep breath, she knocks on the door.  
  
“Who is it?” says Rhea from behind it.

“Edelgard, Lady Rhea.”

There’s a brief pause, and then,

“Come in.”

She does, and closes the door behind her.

The Rhea that greets her is a far cry from the one that had last spoken to her. She is sitting behind her desk, hands together over some papers.

“Hello, Edelgard. I trust that you’ve had a pleasant evening?”

 _Why is she bothering with pleasantries_ , Edelgard thinks.

“Quite so, thank you.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” She stands, and walks around her desk to face Edelgard. “Now. Have you had a chance to consider what I spoke to you about.”

“I did.”

“Good. And what have you concluded?”

Edelgard meets her gaze. That tension is there again. The electricity. “I will call off the invasion - on one condition.”

Rhea tilts her head slightly to the side. “Oh? I don’t believe you’re in a position to make demands, child, but go on. What is your condition?”

“As long as I am Emperor, you will work with me to destroy the Agarthans.”

“My dear, that is not something you need to ask of me. I have been longing to wipe those people from this world for a long, long time.”

Edelgard says nothing, she just stares. There’s something more that Rhea isn’t letting on.

Just when she expects Rhea to turn angry again, to accuse her of lying, Rhea says, her eyes suddenly turning… rather sad.

“Edelgard. The Hresvelgs have always been my allies, but I think of them as more than that. I have always cared for you all, seen you as something akin to family. Do you know that your father asked for my blessing when he intended to marry Patricia? When I gave it, he was so happy.”

Edelgard tenses. Now this, she never thought Rhea would say now.

“To find out that you intended to turn against me in such a way… It broke my heart.”

Rhea comes closer, gently tucking a finger underneath Edelgard’s chin, and tilts it up. Edelgard’s heart races.

“Look at you… such a fine young woman. So smart, so talented. Please, do not put that to waste.

Edelgard quickly steps back. “Stop it. Don’t touch me. And don’t speak to me like that.”

She looks for a crack in Rhea’s countenance, something that gives away that she’s lying, but she doesn’t see one. Rhea looks genuinely softened.

“Oh, but I mean it. I… apologize for becoming so angry this afternoon, but how could I not, when you told me what you did? Edelgard, we can work together. We want the same things, we have the same enemies. We should not fight.”

“How could you possibly know what you want, or who my enemies are? We both seek the end of the Agarthans, but that’s where our similarities end. The church is corrupt, and so are you. Don’t think that I don’t know it.”

Rhea sighs again. She comes closer to Edelgard, and Edelgard walks backward until her back hits the wall behind it. “Child, I think that your heart is what is corrupt.”

“I’m leaving,” Edelgard says, but Rhea blocks her path with her arm.

“I do not want to destroy you, Edelgard. Please do not force me to do so.”

With Rhea this close, Edelgard fears that she might be able to hear her heart racing in her chest. She can even smell the scent of Rhea’s subtle chamomile perfume.

“I will not force you to do anything. Your choices are your own.”

“Please, dear. Someone like you, who bears my blood, the head of Adrestia… You are the last person I would want to fight. Why can’t you see how wrong you are?”

“That— I—”

Rhea leans in, and Edelgard’s breath hitches when she presses a soft kiss to her cheek.

“You remind me quite a bit of your father, you know.”

Edelgard is incredulous. “What the hell is the matter with you.”

“Do you not feel it? The connection between us, the bond that we share. It’s a very special thing, Edelgard.”

Is that what makes Edelgard so strange in Rhea’s presence? Can their shared Crest truly create some mysterious energy between them?

“I don’t— Know what you’re talking about.”

“Let me show you, then.”

With a featherlight touch, Rhea cradles Edelgard’s face in her hands, leans down, and kisses her lips.

Something goes off inside Edelgard, and she gasps into Rhea’s mouth. Energy courses through her veins and sets her entire body ablaze in it.

And Rhea doesn’t relent. She kisses her more, with soft plump lips. In spite of the protests of her right mind, Edelgard parts her lips for her, grants her access. When Rhea’s tongue touches hers, she gasps again. It feels… good. Almost too good.

When Rhea finally parts, she briefly licks her lips, and the sight of it is far too much. Edelgard’s breath is heavy, and she touches her fingertips to her lips. She’s glad for the support of the wall behind her, because without it she’s afraid her knees might buckle.

“See? It is pointless to deny it, Edelgard. Look how your body responds to me. How red and exasperated you are.”

It’s true, and Edelgard wants to hate it, wants to hate her, but in that moment, she can’t. She already misses Rhea’s mouth, already longs for another kiss. She’s trembling a bit, and can feel the dampness beneath her legs.

“Rhea, you—”

“Hm?”

Fuck it. She can hate herself later for this. But now-

Edelgard steps forward, and this time she is the one to kiss Rhea. The slight heels of her boots make it just so she doesn’t need to stand on her toes. Rhea kisses her back, wraps her arms around her body, and it’s maddening. They kiss hungrily, desperately, with an urgency that seems to come out of nowhere.

Unable to help herself, Edelgard grasps Rhea’s chest in her fingers, and Rhea makes a small sound into her mouth. She palms at her breasts, squeezes at them. She hopes that Rhea will do the same to her, but she doesn’t. She just holds her as she ravages her mouth, and lets herself be fondled.

The speed at which her arousal increases is overwhelming. With every passing second, Edelgard feels like she needs more. She wants to peel Rhea’s clothes off, to see her naked. She wants Rhea to shove her against her desk, bend her over and fuck her. She wants, she wants--

“Stop it!” She says suddenly, pulling away and resting against the wall. She tries to steady herself, to even out her breath. Rhea, on the other hand looks perfectly composed, other than her swollen, wet lips, and her hair that is now messy and barely maintaining the crown on her head.

“Stop it, I can’t—”

“Oh, but you did, my darling. Do you see, now, how your very body compels you to be close to me?”

The sensation Edelgard feels can almost kill her. Her body does, in fact, shout at her. It shouts for Rhea and begs her to have her way with her.

“I’ve lived for a very long time, Edelgard. I notice things that others do not. I notice, for instance, how you look at me. How you feign respect, how you can barely stop yourself from throttling me. And how you undress me quite thoroughly with your eyes.

“That’s not—”

“Not true? And yet just a moment ago, you jumped at me. Denial is not healthy, dear.”

Edelgard’s mind feels like it’s surrounded with fog. She can’t think. It’s as if she’d way way too much wine to drink.

“I hate you,” she says.

“Hm. But I do not hate you.”

“I want you to.”

“Oh?”

“I want you to hate me!”

She lunges for Rhea again, ensnaring her in another searing kiss. Rhea is the one who seems taken aback this time, but she kisses back, grasping Edelgard in her arms. She moans a bit into Rhea’s mouth when Rhea bites at her bottom lip.

“I want you to hate me— hnn— because—”

“Because what?” Rhea says in between their kisses, short of breath herself.

_Because maybe then you’ll fuck me harder._

“Because I’ll have— hh- to kill you— ah—”

Edelgard has unconsciously begun to grind against Rhea, pushing against her thigh. When Rhea’s hand circles her throat and holds it, Edelgard lefts out a breathy moan.

“Damn you,” Rhea says, using her grip on Edelgard’s neck to push her against her body. “Why do you do this—”

With her free hand, Rhea bunches up her dress, and pulls it upward to her waist, exposing one of her thighs so that Edelgard can grind onto its bare skin.

Edelgard grasps Rhea’s breasts again. Squeezes at them as she moves. “Because it’s my destiny— mm— I will— liberate Fódlan— from your grasp—”

Rhea kisses her neck. Kisses it, and then bites it, sinking her teeth onto the delicate skin and sucking hard. Edelgard gasps, tilting her head away to give her room.

“I wonder if you can finish like this. Just riding my leg,” Rhea taunts, letting her lips ghost against Edelgard’s ear. Edelgard doesn’t verbally respond, but she gives a particularly strong squeeze to her breast.

“Fuck— you— _hah!”_

Rhea bites her neck again, at a different spot so she can leave another mark. She sucks hard, and Edelgard squirms in her arms.

As Edelgard’s arousal builds, another sort of energy begins to build within her. Something entirely foreign, something she can’t compare to anything else she’s ever felt. It’s not sexual arousal, it’s as if strength is spreading through her limbs and threatening to burst out of her.

“Please,” she blurts out, unable to put a filter to anything that comes out of her mouth. “Please, I need, I need—”

“I know, sweetheart, you’re almost there.”

With incredible ease, Rhea opens Edelgard’s shorts, runs her hand underneath it, and plunges two fingers inside, and Edelgard nearly screams. She’s so wet, Rhea’s fingers don’t even meet resistance.

“So wet,” Rhea says, “So hot,”

Edelgard is going out of her mind, the pleasure and that other odd sensation are making her feel like she could explode at any second. And Rhea’s fingers are merciless as they thrust in and out of her, hard and fast, as is her other hand which still keeps a tight grip around her throat.

“Yes— oh, yes, oh Goddess—!”

“That’s it, Edelgard, call out for the goddess. Let her hear how you moan for me.”

Rhea lets her nails dig into the skin of Edelgard’s neck, adding more red marks to its already stained complexion.

“I’m going to- to…!”

Edelgard holds tightly and Rhea, and shouts out, a prolonged, high-pitched scream. Her vision goes white, and so does Rhea’s. Edelgard can’t see it, but for a moment, both of them become enveloped in a bright silver light. It lasts as long as her orgasm, coating her body in its warmth and its shock.

When the high subsides, Edelgard collapses against Rhea’s arms, hardly conscious. Rhea holds Edelgard’s limp body so it won’t fall to the ground. They stay like that for a long time, the room quiet save for their heavy breaths.

“I need… Some water,” Edelgard says.

Rhea peels her from her body. Edelgard closes her shorts, and attempts to straighten out her hair and clothes.

She heads for the door and puts her hand on the doorknob, but before she turns it, she looks to Rhea. Rhea has the same sad eyes she had before.

“Goodbye, Rhea. When next we meet, one of us will breathe their last.”

_fin_

**Author's Note:**

> whoops?
> 
> also, I wanted to clarify something. the reason why Rhea acts so ambivalent towards Edelgard in their second encounter is that she can't help but feel a strong kinship with those that have the Crest of Seiros. it's easy to miss, but it's mentioned a few times in-game. she wants to hate her, but she can't help but want to be close to her. and Edelgard, being the absolute bottom that she is, can't help herself either. 
> 
> c:
> 
> -
> 
> have a suggestion/request, or are interested in commissioning me? shoot me an email at shinycommissions@gmail.com ♡


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